Friendship is Card Games: Buckball Season · 11:21am Sep 4th, 2016
I'm honestly surprised they didn't move this episode so it would air during the Olympics. Still, let's see what happens when ponies try to go higher, faster, and stronger.
Would licking a hoof to better feel the wind work? The outer wall can’t be that sensitive and the frog is bordered on most sides by aforementioned wall. Plus, you know, licking your own foot. Ew.
So… can any pegasus manage to stay stable and aloft while flapping only one wing, or is this a casual demonstration of incredible skill on Dash’s part?
Also, I have to love how quintessentially herself Rainbow is in the first scene. A competition? Ponyville totally has this! Nopony else stands a chance! By the way, what’s the sport?
I do like how buckball avoids the derby’s trap of the “thing that always existed but we’re only mentioning now” cliché. Having it be an obscure Apple family activity keeps the audience’s introduction to it believable. And the intrinsically pantribal nature of the game says a lot against “racist Southerner” portrayals of the Apples… though one might be able to read something into how unicorns are basically glorified goalposts. 
Still, it’s a well-designed, uniquely Equestrian sport that feels naturally developed from the tribes’ different capabilities.
Pinkie’s unicorn costume is not to be confused with the pegasus costume she still has from the early days of the series’s development.
Fluttershy’s tail control is very impressive. Ponies’ prehensile hair in general is one of the more fascinating and disturbing aspects of their biology.
This episode really demonstrates how much of the distinction between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy lies in volume. When Fluttershy’s giggling or yelling, it can be hard to tell just which pony Andrea Libman's voicing at the moment.
I suppose Rarity wouldn’t be interested in this sort of thing, and Twilight’s an unfair advantage no matter how you look at it. As for Starlight (assuming she currently exists,) either she’d fail to see the point or she’d try to take over for the whole team.
Dang. Snails has made truly incredible progress with his magic. Back during “Boast Busters,” he had to struggle just to light the thing. Some of it may simply be maturation, but I suspect that Trixie’s been giving him pointers in her more recent visits.
Also, the in-universe term for telekinesis is floating. Good to know.
You know, I have to wonder, just why is Applejack so fired up about taking down Braeburn? She’s taking this awfully personally. The “family honor” excuse doesn’t fly; no matter who wins, an Apple will.
Feel free to ask them what’s wrong any time, girls. 
I do like Pinkie and Fluttershy trying to reason away their anxiety. A shame they were guaranteed to doom themselves through it.
Why the palette of blues to indicate allegiance to Ponyville? It’s not like those colors show up on the flag.
Where is Snips in all of this? I don’t think he’s even among the fans.
Oh my goodness, communication! 
Also, dem Flutterfaces.
Wow. Look at that parallax shift as Dash and AJ walk down the train. Beautiful bit of animation there.
Also, Bonbon apparently managed to take off her facepaint while on the train, then reapplied it for the game.
Snails is the best Zen master since Yogi Berra.
Evidently, Bulk Biceps’s body type not only isn’t unique to him, it’s not even exclusive to stallions.
In all, this was a fun, if low-key episode with an unexpectedly fantastic spotlight on a tertiary character. Good lesson, great animation, entirely enjoyable. It’s nice to let the stakes drop now and again. Unmoderated serial escalation tends to result in planets exploding.
Now, let’s open up the playbook:
Effortless Catch 1W
Instant
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn.
Draw a card.
”They were coming towards me. Now they’re not.”
—Snails, enlightened fool
Enlightened Fool 1W
Creature — Unicorn Monk
Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to Enlightened Fool.
The world cannot harm he who refuses to comprehend it.
2/2
Humiliating Defeat 1W
Instant
Exchange target attacking creature’s power and the power of target creature blocking it until end of turn.
After the hoof wrestling match, Rainbow Dash swore both Fluttershy and the hummingbird to secrecy.
Family Honor 2W
Enchantment
As Family Honor enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control of the chosen type get +1/+1 and have vigilance.
”If you ain’t got pride and you ain’t got each other, you ain’t got nothing.”
—Applejack, Bearer of Honesty
Graceful Goalie 3W
Creature — Pegasus Citizen
Flying
Graceful Goalie can block any number of creatures.
If a creature blocked by Graceful Goalie would deal damage to it, that creature deals half that damage, rounded down, to Graceful Goalie instead.
1/3
Untimely Distraction U
Instant
Target creature loses all abilities and has base power 0 until end of turn.
A pegasus shouting in one ear can throw anypony off her game.
Hide in the Caboose 1U
Instant
Put target creature on the bottom of its owner’s library. At the beginning of the next end step, that player reveals the bottom card of his or her library. If it’s a permanent card, that player may put it onto the battlefield.
High Expectations 1U
Instant
Whenever target player casts a spell this turn, counter that spell unless that player pays 2.
”If you’re not going to give it one hundred and twenty percent, why even bother?”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Instant Expertise 4UU
Instant
If target opponent has more cards in hand than you, draw cards equal to the difference.
Draw a card.
”Rainbow Dash is much more intelligent than she appears. She just needs the right motivation to show it.”
—Princess Twilight Sparkle
Pitiless Coach 1BB
Creature — Pegasus Warrior
Flying
Whenever Pitiless Coach attacks, other attacking creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn.
”If you’re not begging for mercy by the time we’re through, then I haven’t done my job.”
4/3
Debilitating Stress 2B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block unless its controller pays 3 life.
Enchanted creature’s activated abilities cost an additional “Pay 3 life” to activate.
Beginner’s Luck 1R
Enchantment
You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
Whenever you activate an ability of a creature, if that creature entered the battlefield this turn, copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
In the Zone 1R
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+1 and has trample.
At the beginning of your end step, if enchanted creature didn’t attack this turn, sacrifice In the Zone.
A winner’s mindset demands a winner’s lifestyle.
Spinning-Kick Prodigy 1RR
Creature — Pony Warrior
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, choose one —
• Spinning-Kick Prodigy gains first strike until end of turn.
• Spinning-Kick Prodigy deals 1 damage to target creature or player.
3/1
Shocking Outburst 2R
Instant
Choose one or both —
• Switch target creature’s power and toughness until end of turn.
• Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don’t control.
Fluttershy doesn’t repress her anger. She pressurizes it.
Wuss Out 2R
Sorcery
Creatures you control gain menace until end of turn. Unicorns can’t block this turn.
”Bad as this sounds, you have to admit, you don’t see a lot of unicorn athletes.”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Devoted Fans 2G
Creature — Pony Citizen
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control your commander, put a +1/+1 counter on Devoted Fans and on your commander.
Ponies will cheer for just about anything.
2/2
Natural Talent 2G
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has “2G, T: This creature fights target creature.”
After the fourth shutout, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were happy to concede their spots on the buckball team.
Distance Bucking 2GG
Instant
Convoke (Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature’s color.)
Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying.
Anything can be destructive at sufficient velocity, even fruit.
Restore Faith GW
Instant
Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn. Untap it.
Without the pressure to perform, Pinkie and Fluttershy were able to recapture the fun that had made them so good in the first place.
Immense Interceptor 3GW
Creature — Pegasus Citizen
Flying
Whenever Immense Interceptor blocks a creature, Immense Interceptor gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is that creature’s power.
She always leaves an impression on whoever she meets.
3/3
Down to the Wire 7(br)(br)(br)
Sorcery
Each player’s life total becomes 1.
”The close finishes are always the most exciting ones, wouldn’t you agree?”
—Discord
Training Course
Land
T: Add C to your mana pool.
3, T: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
”We will push you to your absolute limits. Then, once you’re warmed up, we can get to the real workout.”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Pinkie's unicorn costume:
derpicdn.net/img/2015/12/25/1052672/full.jpeg
Oh, and the pegasus costume, for that matter:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/10/21/453444__safe_fluttershy_clothes_princess+luna_cute_smiling_open+mouth_floppy+ears_dialogue_spread+wings.png
Maybe not if you follow Snail's winning strategy: don't think about anything. Ever. Twilight would be a serious liability.
4191294
In international sports, the colors of the nation might not be reflected on the team's garb, but they are almost inevitably what the fans will use, and in case of national level games, teams tend to have flags which are not necessarily connected with the color of their uniforms, and then the fans will tend to pick these for an identifier.
Looks like you busted an italics marker somewhere.
This was an entertaining, if unexceptional episode. It was fun to see Snails get to play a role. I think the most off thing about the whole episode was that suddenly Fluttershy and Pinkie can beat the two pro athletes RD and AJ in a ball game on raw talent. Which is not enough for me to draw points from the whole episode, but it did stand out.
I tried to come up with a way for unicorns to be more athletic while using their magic within the game, and I came up with nothing. Maybe someone more sports-focused than I am could come up with a better role for the unicorns. Still, I also like how it used the three tribes' different abilities.
Also, capillurgy for pegasi is confirmed – it's not just unique to Rainbow Dash, as I'd thought.
And scared/mad Fluttershy is quite possibly the best Fluttershy ever.
Going into this episode, I was worried that it would be as bad as “Cart Before the Ponies,” but I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I expected. At least the bad coaching segment only took up the middle third, and AJ and RD got their heads out of their butts well before the final act.
I made Criffleball before panstribal sports were cool...
4191271
Pinkie has disguises of all her friends, in case of friend disguise emergencies.
4191279
It is possible that Twilight could fall victim to analysis paralysis. On the other hand, she may teleport the basket into the perfect position on a moment's notice. I suppose we can't know until she tries to play.
4191315
Missing italics tag has been fixed. Thanks for the catch.
4191327
Given the huge range of potential ability among unicorns, any magical demand beyond "stand there and telekinese" would probably exclude a fair portion of the population. The only other universal spell seems to be light, and blinding the other side hardly seems fair.
And yes, Dash and AJ were handled a lot better here than "The Cart Before the Ponies." That they were able to pull their heads out of their rears almost entirely on their own was especially nice.
4191340
Indeed. Your hipster cred is confirmed. And I really need to get back to our exchange on the TOW flash fiction thread.
4191368
Now I want to write a story about Twilight applying sabermetrics to buckball.
4191279
I assumed she was out because she was an alicorn. What would an all-alicorn team look like? Could they switch positions on the fly? Do you have to be a member of the tribe you represent to play that position?
As for the cards this week, I love the mechanic of Hide in the Caboose: it could be so abused with Scry. Too much abuse possible for Down To The Wire; compared to Worldfire, it's one of those cards that should cost more because it does less. Lobber Crew + Down to the Wire shouldn't win when Lobber Crew + Worldfire can't.
That said, the last time I said something you made should be differently costed, I was quickly proven wrong.
On Debilitating Stress, shouldn't it be "Enchanted creature’s activated abilities cost “Pay 3 life” in addition to their other costs."
Costing Pay 3 life more reads kinda weird
Don't you mean convoke?
Down to the Wire is a card I would totally build around in Modern.
Would you write Ponified Lensman fics?
4191368 Hmm...
Analysis Paralysis 1W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays 1 for each card in his or her hand.
Activated abilities of enchanted creature cost 1 more to activate for each card in its controller's hand.
You are missing a word on Effortless Catch:
So is that "by target" or "to target"? I'm guessing by the flavor text it should be "to target".
On Humiliating Defeat's flavor text. Hummingbirds don't have hooves, maybe that should be a "wing wresting match" instead. Or does that just make the shame bigger? Losing a hoof wresting match to something without a hoof to wrestle with.
.... Or am I looking at this wrong and it was Dash and Fluttershy who had the match and the hummingbird was watching?
I prefer the first thought I had about it.It's funnier.
I was looking at Instant Expertise's casting cost and thought it was a bit much for the effect so I went and looked and there is indeed two cards that do this. The first is the slightly more relevant one here.
But Balance of Power is an older card, and things have been rebalanced a bit. The problem comes in that Instant Expertise is an Instant over a Sorcery, so it should cost more, and draws you one extra card, so it should cost more, and card draw, especially at Instant speed, is a very powerful effect.
The real thing is I don't think Instant Expertise should only cost a single Blue, it should be at least two Blue. Now, I don't think it needs to be three Blue, I think 4UU would be a good casting cost for it, since it has the potential to draw you eight cards at Instant speed (barring the opponent not messing with their max hand size that is).
Though if you've got no other cards in hand as a Blue deck you are doing it wrong.
Pitiless Coach is a good choice for the "you only have one creature" set of Enchantments they tried to do. Sadly that didn't work out too well. It seems people enjoy having a lot of creatures.
But, well, you'll always have people who want to try and do something different. It's been a while since I ran a creatureless deck, but I've done it in the past and it's quite fun.
*Reads Shocking Outburst's flavor text. Mentally hears a distinctive beat and ques up some music.*
On Distance Bucking: The reminder test for Convoke has changed, it is now the following:
I know the obvious use for Down to the Wire is just a low cost burn spell or maybe something that can "ping" for one but I really want to use it with something llike Platinum Emperion where I don't have the downside of going to 1 life or maybe with Near-Death Experience if you somehow managed to cast them both at the end of your opponents turn.
Magic is such a fun game, with all the various combos you can do.
4191327
My Google-fu is failing me. What is "capillurgy"?
4192337 Google failed because capillurgy is the term I made up for the prehensile tail and mane. I cribbed it together from the Latin word for "hair" (capill) and the suffix meaning "work" (-urgy). I probably butchered it, but it sounds like good magi-techno-babble.
4192411
As someone who came up with the word "pencortus" I should have noticed this, but I didn't have my Latin hat on at the time.
For those that are curious it is a bit of a portmanteau of the Latin words "pennatus" meaning "winged" and "cornutus" meaning "horned". Since they share the "tus" ending I took the first three letters of each and smashed them together to get something that kind of maybe if you squinted your eyes meant "winged and horned".
It is a horrible, horrible misuse of a beautiful language but I think it works well enough. I prefer the "old-school" meaning of "alicorn", which was often thought to be the substance unicorn horns are made from or just the horn itself (since it means "secured horn" in French) before the fandom started using it for the princesses.
The more you know!
On another note, I also prefer using the suffix "-urgy" for magical things over "-mancy", since "-mancy" is supposed to be for divination. So a "pyromacer" wouldn't control flames, but would use them to divine what tomorrow's lottery numbers would be.
But i'm going to stop now, I could rant on this stuff all night and M:tG has already firmly established they will be using the "-macer" suffix so this is not the proper place for this.
4192489 To me, alicorn is at least better than "winged unicorn" or "pegacorn." Besides, I've grown used to it.
Totally with you there!
My mind went to those goofy costumes from the comics when pinkie mentioned her unicorn costume
I like Training Course. It can only train one creature at a time, but it's open to all creatures. It's not color-exclusionary, like Gavony Township's training course.
4192489
4192511
Wouldn't a/the Latiny term for "wing + horn" be something like "alacorn" anyway? (Or is "ala" a wrong translation of "wing" in this context? From what I've seen of modern romance languages, it seems like it should fit here...) And in normal speech a lot of people would end up pronouncing that super-similar to "alicorn", so it might be reasonable to claim the ponies maintain the alicorn/alacorn distinction and it simply doesn't come across in the voice acting. (Or you could just go Greekish instead and try something like "pterokeros" to short-circuit the debate.)
Hear hear on the subject of "-urgy" over "-mancy", though.
Firstly, thanks to my development team. Constructive criticism is always my favorite form of feedback.
4191395
If we go by the "Alicorns are all tribes at once" interpretation, technically, they would qualify as offense, defense, or goalfloater. That said, I'm pretty sure changing positions midgame is considered poor sportsponyship, if not outright illegal.
As for the cards, you do make a point about Down to the Wire. The problem is that making it more expensive probably won't help as much as we'd like, simply because by that point, people aren't going to bother to actually pay for it. Still, between pinger abuse and the hybrid cost, I've bumped it up to CMC 10.
4191430
You're right that I got the wording wrong, but not in the way you thought. As Brutal Suppression demonstrates, it's "Costs an additional 'Pay 3 life.'" I've made the fix.
4191456
Yes. Yes I do. In my defense, between convoke, converge, conspire, and any I might be missing, it starts to blend together after a while.
4191668
If I'd ever read the Lensman novels, probably. Of course, nothing's stopping me from doing so. I just haven't yet.
4192337
Effortless Catch: Oh dear, that is a rather critical omission, isn't it? It should indeed be damage dealt to the creature. Fix made.
Humiliating Defeat: That's just shameful equinocentrism on Dash's part.
Instant Expertise: Hmm. Well, it can draw any where from one to eight, which has roughly the same yield as Opportunity... Yeah, I'd say you're in the right. Adjustment made.
Distance Bucking: The flavorful explanation added for a core set that does little more than take up precious, precious room on the card has been deliberately excluded.
4192593
To be fair, the residents of that township had a good reason to be so exclusionary, given how most of the blue, black, and red things in Innistrad hunger for human flesh and/or blood. As do some of the green things. Ponyville may be on the edge of the Everfree, but at least it isn't surrounded by it.
4193183
10 is worth it, I'd still play it. Granted, I'd want Koth and Lili of the Dark Realms and Crypt Ghast and Seething Song etc. in the deck, but it would be worth it. It makes a nice two-color version of a "pay 10 to win" card like Door to Nothingness or Progie. Put it in a nice Zurgo Helmsmasher Commander deck with Worldfire and a chunk of Oblivion Ring counterparts, and totally rock it.
4193183
It's okay, FoME. It's not really all that hard to get confused.
And yay for being on FoME's devteam!
What? No card for Tem FPS?
Yeah, he can self-levitate. While also levitating several buckets simultanously.
It's in one of the early scenes of Pinkie and Flutters getting nervous. Or right here.
The only ponies known so far to possess this skill have been Twilight, Starlight ... and one of the Cake-twins, but that can be reasoned away as "infant magic burst" syndrom.
At first glance it may look like he's just sitting on the bucket... and, yes, he is --- but that bucket it also being levitated by him. So, either every unicorn can just make themselves fly by sitting in a box and levitating the box and we've never seen them do it, or.......
Snails is the highest level unicorn!
...Or, uh, just relatively more magically skilled than the average unicorn, anyway.
....And then Snails became Princess Celestia's new student.